Brace yourself for another petrol price increase

Bad news for consumers is that the petrol price is to increase by 19 cents a litre next week on Wednesday.

This is for both 93 and 95 octane petrol.

The Department of Energy said the main reasons for the increase are that the rand depreciated slightly on average against the US dollar during the period under review and that prices of petroleum products in the international markets had increased in line with higher crude oil prices.

“The crude oil prices rose‚ partly on drawdowns of global inventories including in the closely watched US market. The market has been anticipating a return to balance at some point this year and there are signs now that it is happening. The current expectations are that the rising crude oil prices will hit a ceiling as higher prices may tempt OPEC members to start producing above the output cuts agreed late last year and reconfirmed in June this year‚” the department said.

The price of diesel will increase by between 29c and 30c a litre‚ while that for illuminating paraffin will rise by 26c/l.